Skipper Thomas Crisp's award of a posthumous
Victoria Cross in 1917, when in command of a small sailing
Q-ship, is one of the most personal and poignant. As he lay
dying, his side split open by shell-fire, his last words to his son were,
"Tom, I'm done. Throw me overboard."

That action led to the loss of two smacks.
Skipper Crisp was the only man killed on HM Q-Ship Nelson, but
all were lost on HMS Q-Ship Ethel and Millie. Click for
more information below.

Amongst the
survivors from Nelson was the gunlayer, Leading Seaman Edward Hales.
Some 90 years
later, his grandson, Frank Hales sent me the following newspapers cuttings and
photographs of the action and of his family, of whom at least
three generations served in the Royal Navy.

Born 28th April 1876,
in LowestoftSuffolk, Name on Chatham
Naval Memorial. VC held by Waveney District Council

TheLondon
Gazette 2
November 1917

(Original brief account with no mention of type of
operation)

from the Admiralty

HONOURS FOR SERVICES IN ACTION WITH ENEMY SUBMARINES.

The KING has
been graciously pleased to approve of the award of the following honours, decorations and medals
to officers and men for services in action with enemy submarines (including):
—

Posthumous
Award of the Victoria Cross

(right - with blue ribbon of the Royal Navy, no
enlargement).

Skipper
Thomas Crisp, R.N.R., 10055D.A (killed in action).

The London
Gazette20
November 1918

(Fuller account following the Armistice)

from the Admiralty

With
reference to announcements of the award of the Victoria Cross to naval officers
and men for services in action with enemy submarines, the following (is the
account of the action for which this award was made) —

Action of
H.M. Armed Smack Nelson on the
15th August, 1917.

On the 15th August, 1917,
the Smack Nelson was engaged in fishing when she was attacked by gunfire from
an enemy submarine. The gear was let go and the submarine's fire was returned.
The submarine's fourth shot went through the port bow just below the waterline,
and the seventh shell struck the skipper, Thomas Crisp, partially disembowelling him, and passed
through the deck and out through the side of the ship. In spite of the terrible
nature of his wound Skipper Crisp retained consciousness, and his first thought
was to send off a message that he was being attacked and giving his position.
He continued to command his ship until the ammunition was almost exhausted and
the smack was sinking. He refused to be moved into the small boat when the rest
of the crew were obliged to abandon the vessel as she sank, his last request
being that he might be thrown overboard.

(The
posthumous award of the Victoria Cross to Skipper Thomas Crisp, D.S.C., R.N.R.,
10055 D.A., was announced in London Gazette No. 30363, dated the 2nd November,
1917.)

Skipper Crisp, a fisherman before the war, with
his wife and two younger children. His wife died only
two weeks before his own death in action

His son, Second Hand Thomas
Crisp, awarded Distinguished Service Medal

Contemporary accounts from The
Pictorial (below) and the Daily Sketch
(right) after details of the action were released
on the 20th November 1918

Nelson's Carrier Pigeon No 498, released before the
action

Poem by W Draper,
believed to have been one of the crew of HM Q-ship Nelson
at the time of her loss. Composed at
Lowestoft
in 1917 (see survivor list at end)

"Skipper
Wharton DSO and bar, and Mate G Cracknell DSM, both of
whom have done splendid work during the war, watching a
pigeon flight." One of the newspaper cuttings, ship and
source not known, but probably from the same page as
Nelson's Pigeon No.498 (above right)

right - Eastern Evening News May 1st
1920,

including the number of honours awarded

to men of the Trawler Section, RNR

including two Victoria Crosses

Naval Awards in the Daily Mirror,
3rd November 1917

Skipper Thomas Crisp and family,
including son Thomas (centre top) and son-in-law Harold
Hart (bottom), both awarded DSM - latter action not
known

Other awards

Left - Q-ship commander, Captain
Gordon Campbell VC, bar to DSO; centre - Commander
Max Horton, bar to DSO and famed for Battle of
Atlantic in World War 2; right - Seaman William
Williams, VC for Q-ship action, bar to DSM

THREE
GENERATIONS OF THE HALES NAVAL FAMILY

Great Grandfather - Petty
Officer 1st Class Edward John Hales Snr,
pictured (left) at age 64 in the 14th May
1918 edition of the Daily Mirror.

This is the only known photograph of
Edward Senior, who must have been born around 1854.

Grandfather,
born 7th April 1884 -
Leading Seaman Edward John Hales Jnr

Edward Snr was widowed and as he
spent so much time at sea, his son - also Edward John
Hales - was placed with the Gordon Boys in Bournemouth,
southern England, a school for military children (left
- in the Gordon Boys uniform). At some point, Edward
Junior was adopted by a Mr and Mrs Arnold.

His naval training took place on
board HMS Boscawen (below), believed to have been
moored off Portland

right - about
HMS Boscawen

His Service
Record (click to enlarge)

Photographed in 1914

Announcement of the award
of the Italian Medal for Valour in Bronze to Edward
Jnr in a Bournemouth newspaper. Probably still at
war, but date not known - possibly 1918 after
service in the Mediterranean. Because of the nature
of Q-ship warfare, his service in HM Smack Nelson
would not have been made public

Father, born
4th November 1931, died 30th June 2002 -
Godfrey Maurice Hales RN service No
JX835797 believed in training at HMS St Vincent, Gosport.
He was not in the Navy very long and there are few
details

An Account of the Action

Wednesday 15 August 1917

North Sea

Admiralty hired smacks Nelson, also Ethel and Millie operating
as Q-ships, sunk in action with U.63, leading to the award of a
posthumous VC to Nelson's skipper:

G. & E., also known as Bird, Extirpator, Foam Crest, I’ll Try,
Ledger No.929, Nelson, S.3 (H - listed as Nelson), operating as
Nelson, special service/submarine decoy/Q-ship, fishing
smack, c61/1905, Lowestoft-reg LT649, taken up 8/8-9/15 and
again 22/1/16, probably only armed with 1-3pdr at this time,
auxiliary engined by 8/17, Skipper T Crisp RNR, on patrol,
fishing on Jim Howe Bank with trawl shot. Submarine sighted at
1445, 3 or 4 miles away, opened fire and although Nelson was
hopelessly outranged, she replied. Started to receive hits and
take in water, seventh shell went through the skipper's left
side, mortally wounding him, Second Hand Tom Crisp, his son,
took over command. Nelson continued firing until nearly out of
ammunition, crew abandoned ship, tried to lift the skipper into
the boat but his only response was "Tom, I'm done, throw me
overboard". They left him on board, Nelson was shelled until she
sank off Mabelthorpe, Lincs; only the skipper was lost, Ethel &
Millie beckoned the survivors on board but they continued rowing
west, next day they sighted minesweeper Dryad and other
sweepers, but were not seen, then on the Friday made fast to the
Jim Howe Bank buoy and in the afternoon finally rescued by
Dryad. Skipper Thomas Crisp RNR was posthumously awarded the
Victoria Cross, Second Hand Thomas Crisp the DSM

ETHEL & MILLIE, also known as Boy Alfred, Ledger No.929,
S.3, possibly Ethel and Emily, special service/submarine
decoy/Q-ship, fishing smack, 58/1908, Lowestoft-reg LT200, taken
up 1/2/17, 1-6pdr, 7 crew, Skipper William “Johnsey” Manning.
After Nelson was sunk, UC.63 turned its attention to Ethel &
Millie which was soon hit and stopped, then probably sunk by
bomb; 1 officer, 6 ratings lost. According to the younger Thomas
Crisp, the crew were picked up by the submarine, and last seen
lined up on the foredeck. No survivors were found, only a pigeon
message picked up saying she was being attacked by a U-boat. It
is suggested they were drowned when the U-boat submerged.

Casualties

Survivors

Nelson

CRISP, Thomas, Ty/Skipper,
RNR

Ethel and Millie

BARRETT, Edwin J, Able Seaman,
239776

GIBSON, Spencer T, 2nd Hand,
RNR, DA 7781

LEWIS, John L, Deck Hand, RNR,
DA 15058

MANNING, Charles W, Ty/Skipper,
RNR

PREECE, Alfred, Able Seaman,
201483

SOAMES, Arthur, Deck Hand, RNR,
DA 11241

THOMPSON, Hugh, Deck Hand, RNR,
SD 1054

Nelson

COX, George, Private, Royal Marine Light Infantry

CRISP,
Thomas W, Second Hand

DRAPER, W
(uncertain)

HALES, Edward, Leading Seaman, Gunlayer

ROSS, Percival, Leading Seaman,
Gunner

Additional research by Frank Hales

The two smacks were sunk by UC.63 (Commander OberleutenantKarsten von Heydebreck) on Wednesday, August 15th 1917 over Jim
Howe Bank some time after 2.45pm.